A Returned Giving their Breath

[The Ward's Guard he/him]

Hello everyone, first Topic Post from me,

As I reread Warbreaker, I came across the few pages where Vasher explains to Vivenna how little they knew about Awakening and the Commands that exist. A thought then occured to me and I haven't been able to find much about it.

Could there be a Command that exists that transfers a Returned's breath to someone else like a regular breath, and we simply don't know what exactly it is?

I did read a WoB saying that when a Returned gives up their breath, it turns to "Kenetic Investment", so it physically and mentally heals the recipient, but is that because that's the command that's being used? Or is it because that's just how Returned Breaths can only be used? I also read a WoB that said that it is mostly based off of what you're visualizing in your mind, so I'm not sure if it means that the Returned can only visualize healing the subject as they say the command since it typically is why they came back. I might have over thought this one, but I'd like to know if it's already been answered.

[Honorless he/him]

Quote

Extesian

Can you give away a Divine Breath to another human? If so would they have the same powers as a Returned or would they just 'store' it like an inanimate object that Breath is stored in when not Awakened? Does a human require a 'crack' in their spirit web to receive a divine Breath?

Brandon Sanderson

So, a Divine Breath-- you're kind of going along the wrong direction on that line of reasoning. Divine Breaths cannot be transferred. When they are used they immediately become kinetic Investiture and are activated. This manifests normally as healing the person, both body, mind, and soul, but you can't give it up, transfer it in the same way you can regular Breaths.

Skype Q&A (Oct. 8, 2018)

 

[AquaRegia he/him]

I was having a conversation about Warbreaker yesterday and realized I'm unclear on the rules for Returned giving away their Breath.

We are told that the reason for Returned existing is to find the right time to give away their Breath.  Common understanding is that when a Returned gives away their Breath, they can bring about a healing, and then they themselves die, as we see with Lightsong.  I had the impression that while you can store some Breath in external objects, you can't give SOME of your Breath to another person - it's either all or none.

Yet Vasher does not die when he gives all his Breath to Denth.  Help?

[Frustration he/him]

1 hour ago, AquaRegia said:

Yet Vasher does not die when he gives all his Breath to Denth.  Help?

When Vasher does his intent hack that hides his divine breath it prevents him from giving it away

[AquaRegia he/him]

Thanks.  I looked at the relevant WoB:

Quote

The answer is simple, in many ways, but I'm not sure if I have the groundwork for it properly laid in the book. (Which is why I hesitated in explaining it.) Remember when Denth said that Awakening was all or nothing? Well, he lied.  A very skilled Awakener can give away only part of their Breath.

I agree that the groundwork was NOT properly laid in the book.

I'm fine with the whole "in-world characters don't really know the rules, and sometimes what they think is wrong"... but I guess this was back when Brandon was still getting the hang of it.  ;-)

[Zoey she/her]

4 hours ago, AquaRegia said:

Thanks.  I looked at the relevant WoB:

I agree that the groundwork was NOT properly laid in the book.

I'm fine with the whole "in-world characters don't really know the rules, and sometimes what they think is wrong"... but I guess this was back when Brandon was still getting the hang of it.  ;-)

It still lays the groundwork down quite solidly, I feel. I don't see issue in how he did it, it was just a lot of people trying to understand it, and the thing about the Breaths, yeah, Denth just lied, and it is very obvious when you look at it on a wider scale and especially when we see Vasher's POV.